


Life's Not Like Your American Movies

by MissDassin



Category: An American in Paris - Gershwin/Lucas
Genre: A LOT OF PETTY DRAMA, F/M, Sad, Temporary Breakup, marriage proposal that failed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7643407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissDassin/pseuds/MissDassin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things don't always go according to planned in the city of love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Lise had begun to realize Jerry has been slowly backing out of her life. Okay, well he was still a major part of her life. He was always at rehearsals, ballet openings, they even went out on dates. But he hardly talked, which was noticeable because he’d never spend a minute not blabbing her ear off. She’d get a good morning, afternoon or night out of him, he’d show her new sketches for the ballet, maybe a hello or goodbye. Oh no.

Lise’s mother had warned her about this. Lise had remembered her mother saying this when her classmates of the Monte Carlo ballet school began seeing each other.

"Don’t be too quick to date and fall in love. Boys… they will do what it takes to survive. One day they’ll seem just that into you until one day they slowly start to fade away. Even the good ones, they’re just never satisfied with what they got and will keep moving on to the next. You think love's easy, but it's nothing like how they tell it in American movies"

Lise hadn’t thought of Jerry as the type. Okay, maybe on the outside he was confident and good looking but she didn’t think he’d have the heart to leave her. He was pretty well mannered too, always remembered to say please and thank you so she would think he wouldn’t leave her abruptly just to return back home. But he maybe had a change of plans, Maybe he had enough of her and Paris and was ready to go back to America. 

She guess she’d have to see how the next weeks played out… hopefully in her favor.

/

Jerry had gotten up at seven, he must of fell asleep at some point because he was wide awake at five. He had to hurry up because even at such an early hour he was still running late. He had to be at Lise’s apartment by 7:15 to get to rehearsal at 7:45 so she could have the time to smack the life out of her pointe shoes and tie them.  
Jerry sighed, got dressed and put the small box in his pocket. He reviewed the plans he wrote out with Milo on how to propose. There were four options: to propose at the Louvre while they were looking at art, or propose by the Seine and their bench, in Lise’s dressing room before the show, or where they met for the first time. His sister Amelia told him not to just ask the question in normal conversation and not to ask her during rehearsal. Easy enough.

He headed out on the street, the Parisian air was still warm given that it was almost fall. It reminds him of when Paris was liberated, the warm air and energy that he had that day knowing he would never have to live another day in fear or ride another plane. He smiled so much at that memory that he almost walked past Lise’s apartment building. He actually knew that it was her building this time because he once tried to break into the apartments next door. He also had noticed Lise exiting out the door so that was an added bonus to him knowing.

Jerry couldn’t explain it. She looked different, a little more worried and a little bit reclusive. She met his gaze, ran down the stairs of the front of her apartment building and gave him a quick peck on the lips before moving away. While they were walking along the sidewalk she wasn’t talking or holding his hand. It seemed like she was trying to walk as far away from him without acting like anything was wrong. 

Jerry couldn't take the silence anymore. 

“Did I do something?” Jerry asked, taking her hand. Lise winced a little.

Lise snatched her hand out of his grab, but it took a few seconds for her to process what to say. “I know you’re heading back to America, Jerry. I’m no fool, a year later and you’ve had enough of Paris. You knocked me out of my obligation and a proposal but now you just want to return back to America. I knew I should’ve listened to Madame Baurel. You Americans are backstabbing, presumptuous liars who think you can have anything you want,"

He wasn’t expecting that, he had no will to argue he had just figured Lise was having one of those mornings. “Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? You’re acting cynical,” Jerry questioned, he was so confused at this point and didn’t want to say anything that added more fuel to the fire.

“Cynical? I am not one to be fooled around with Mr. Mulligan. I see you talking to Amelia on the phone, when I ask you about it afterwards you just change the subject,” Lise felt her voice getting louder, but she was careful to not draw attention to them. “You’re always out with Milo, making some plans for drawing the new ballet. How long can that take?”

Jerry let out a huge sigh. He knew he was doomed at this point and that she was onto him. “I’m not going to break up with you and I’m not going back to America. It’s nothing you should worry about, just focus on the ballet,” His argument lacked defense, but he couldn’t say any more because he was reminded of the ring box in his back pocket.

Lise scoffed. “There you are changing the subject again,”

At this point they were now to the entrance of the chatelet. He really didn’t want to get into an argument before rehearsal because it would just give the dancers something to gossip about during breaks. “Oh like you’re not one to change the subject, you didn’t happen to tell me you were engaged to another man while you were seeing me,” Jerry asserted.

Lise was careful to lower her voice to a bare whisper now that they were in the rehearsal room “You never asked me and you certainly had no business in knowing,”

“Oh and like keeping a secret is a healthy thing to do in a relationship when you become husband and wife?” Jerry rebuked, he instantly regretted saying that. He had guessed the ring box was now speaking for him at this point and he was just along for the ride.

“What did you just say?” Lise whipped her head around from where she was standing by the piano.

“I’m saying that we should become man and wife. I’m saying that we should make a date with Parson Brown,” Jerry got down on one knee. “I’m saying that we should get married,” Jerry had pulled the ring box out of his pocket and got down on one knee and beamed up at her. “Lise, will you marry me?”

Lise didn’t want to even look at him. He was smiling so much and she didn’t want to break his heart at this point. She tried to smile, but she couldn't. She didn’t have the heart to say what she wanted to say. The world seemed to freeze around her as they waited for a one word response. She felt tears coming to her eyes that weren’t happy ones

She said no. She heard the ring clatter to the floor and Jerry run out behind her and for the first time she didn’t wait for him to catch up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I do feel bad about throwing in a character that is not part of the musical. I promise there will be a whole other fic behind this and of how Jordan came to be. In the musical Jerry says that he wishes there was some way to thank her. So Jordan's his really good friend and also an artist. So Jerry plays wingman and introduces Jordan to Milo and they hit it off. Anyways, onward with the fic!

Lise didn’t know where to go at this point but she knew her feet were carrying her to Milo’s. She hadn’t noticed she was crying hysterically, which was probably why people were looking at her weird. She knew Jerry didn’t mean it, maybe he did. She knew it was a joke or at least thought it was. I mean where was the ring? If she didn’t see it, she didn’t have the proof. Well, she did hear something clatter to the ground but then again that could of been just Jerry's hopes and dreams.

Lise basically walked into Milo’s house uninvited, but when didn’t she. She was let in by Jordan, Milo’s soon to be husband. When he saw her and how angry she was all he did was point to the kitchen where Milo was. Lise could only Milo was clearly doing a lot of planning for the wedding that came ahead in two months. Milo immediately saw her and was concerned.

/

Milo was nothing but shocked when she saw Lise, of course this wasn’t the first time she has come crying to her apartment but Milo had never seen Lise this way- crying, but she couldn’t put her finger on it… a little bit angry.

“Oh no. Lise Dassin rarely cries. What’s going on?” Milo asked leading them over to the couch in the living room. She had prayed that this was just a comment from one of Lise’s colleagues she took a little too close to heart and not from Jerry doing something stupid because Milo could work with the first option more than the second option.

“Jer-” Lise let out a sob. “It’s Jerry. He just proposed to me,”

“Why are you crying about that? You should be excited! Wait. I need details… time and place,” Milo asked, throwing a look at Jordan to get out of the door frame and stop eavesdropping. Milo grabbed a hold of Lise's left hand to take a glimpse at the ring but was taken by surprise when there was nothing there.  
Lise pulled her hand away. “You don’t understand. I said no. This morning I was just trying to ask if he was going back to America because he seems strained around me and it turned into a big argument and once we stepped into the studio Jerry was just asked me to marry me like it was just a casual and conversational question, ” Lise explained.

“He did not,” Milo clearly had anger shooting through her since he went against the promise that he wouldn’t ask her during rehearsal, or at any time during this month given that the ballet was coming up in a few weeks and that was stressful enough. But then again she also felt bad because he had been planning this for awhile. She let her feelings dissipate before asking, “So what are you doing now?”

“I figured I’ll just break up from him... it's for the better. I shouldn’t waste my time on a man who thinks marriage is nothing more than a joke. I thought he was different, nicer and worthwhile when it turns out he just wants to marry me and probably carry me back to America like I’m his prize,” Lise explained, she was so angry at this point.

Milo was shocked at how quick and easily Lise decided to remove Jerry from her life. Jerry was notorious for messing up and making small mistakes and Lise would always forgive him. From helping him plan, Milo knew he was nervous and he probably let the question slip by accident but that’s not how Lise was perceiving it. But if she had to pick sides, she’d choose Lise’s every time.

“So, where do we even start?” Milo asked.

“I’m playing hookie from the ballet, so I’m just going back to my apartment to pack up all of the stuff of his that's in my apartment and send it off next time I see him,” Lise explained.

“I’ll come with you,” Milo responded and cringed as she thought about how much of Jerry’s stuff would be at Lise’s apartment since he spent so much time there. She could only hope that this grudge would last a short while because she had Lise as her maid of honor and Jordan had Jerry as his best man but she never knew. Lise and Jerry’s relationship was always unpredictable, they could hold a grudge any where from five minutes to a week.

/

Jerry didn’t know what to think at this point. He tried to follow everything Amelia and Milo told him to do, but now that he thought about it he didn’t. He should of trusted their judgement more or else he wouldn’t still have the ring in his pocket, well it wasn’t even in his pocket at this point but on the floor of the ballet studio.  
The rejection reminded Jerry of the time he spent hours on an art project that he was so proud of only to have it get ridiculed by his father.

_“Hey, Mom! Check out my painting,” Jerry exclaimed, he was so excited with all the hard work, skipped meals and sleepless nights he put into making sure it was perfect._  


_Jerry’s Mom took hold of the painting carefully and looked at in the light “There’s no way that my son is capable of such a thing,” she said miraculously._  


_“Well you can believe it, if you want to,” Jerry smiled, at least until his father walked into the room and walked behind where he and his mother were standing._  


_“It’s not that great, you could have added more yellow and blended it more. Painting isn’t that hard to do, yet you always seem to mess up,” Jerry’s dad criticized._  


_Jerry knew his Father was thinking about crumpling the artwork so he snatched the piece of paper out of his hands and dropped it to the floor, bit his tongue and turned around before he could hear any more of what he had to say._  
/ 

Jerry didn’t want to think about his childhood at this point. All he knew is that he messed up, he hoped at this point Lise would forgive him for what he did but he went too far and he knew it. What he planned for over four months ended up getting ruined in less than a minute. Jerry’s father was right. He always was known for messing up the easiest of things. He couldn’t even get the one person he loved and devoted his life to to say yes to spending the rest of her life with him.

“You know Lise might come around,” Jerry watched as Adam went to sit down on the bench where Jerry sat contemplating his future and being reminded of his past.

“She won’t Adam, you saw the fear in her eyes. She doesn’t trust me, she doesn’t want to spend the rest of life with me,” Jerry bit his lip in order to avoid crying. “You know she’s the only reason why I wanted to stay in Paris other than pursuing art. She made me feel less like a murderer and more like a human again. At this point, I should just go back to America. I’ve failed at everything I’ve wanted to become,”

“Kiddo, you act like something that happened less than an hour ago is the end of the world. You caught Lise at the wrong time, I hate to tell you that. The opening of the ballet is in less than a month and you seem to forget she was in an engagement with Henri,” Adam explained.

“That makes so much sense,” Jerry felt awful. “I’m rushing her into something that she didn’t want, I basically asked her the question in front of all her colleagues with no thought put into it or anything. She’ll won’t take me back because I’m basically seen as taking things too deep, too far, too quick,” Jerry shook his head.

“Well, Lise still took you back even after you got paint all over your pointe shoes and when you spilled champagne over her dress at the ballet opening a few weeks ago. She ended an engagement just to be with you, so if that’s not love I don’t know what is,” Adam shrugged. “Well, I’d be best back off at the studio what’s a ballet without the music and I have no choice or else Mr. Z and Olga will off with my head. But listen though, do us all a favor and get some sleep. It’s no wonder why you proposed by accident you’re off your rocker and look like you haven’t slept in two years,”

“Thanks and I’m going to figure out how to put my life back together since I’ve just shattered it in the last hour,” Jerry said sarcastically, but yet again his tone was already dark enough. He hadn’t noticed the dark circles under his eyes, he must of thought all those nights when he was asleep his eyes were still open. Between the new ballet, trying to carry out a proposal and a gallery opening he didn’t think of sleep as his number one priority.

Adam was long gone at this point, Jerry now had to rethink his future and if the one person he loved and devoted his life to didn't actually love him back.


End file.
